but there's a principle in law that you don't put a witness on the stand if you don't know what they're going to say. i think there's also a principle at work here that you don't dangle the possibility of a deal that you can't deliver. and i think the volatility in the markets and people i have spoken to agree with me, the volatility is in part because speaker boehner, scott brown, other people keep dangling the potential 6 a deal that isn't ultimately delivered and those expectations are the problem. so i think going forward into 2013 you won't necessarily see this because i think that maybe after the 3rd they will be smart enough on capitol hill to do a two-year deal, to get us to 2014 without having to do this annually. >> and if they don't, joy, aren't we just going to expend all the political capital that's left in this town on these kind of deals? there's not really going to be any time or energy to do anything else? >> you're absolutely right. you have imagrees reform, gun issues out there. the problem is we are starting to look like an ungovernable country. we're starting to loo